Review: Google’s Nexus Sets Standard for Smaller Android Tablets

People talk about a tablet revolution, but the reality is there hasn’t been one; there has been an iPad revolution.

Other manufacturers have attempted — with degrees of success ranging from none to barely — to chip away at Apple’s utter dominance. Google’s Nexus 7 is the first tablet that might give Apple some competition.

This is a nice tablet.

Manufactured by Taiwanese manufacturer Asus, this 7-inch tablet, while not without some annoyances, is pretty impressive. In the U.K., it’s on sale in 8GB and 16GB models priced at £159 and £199.

Let’s deal with the No. 1 annoyance: the screen. It’s not the fact that it’s not in 16:9 ratio, which is fine, nor is it the the quality of the display. (Until Apple introduced its “retina display” it would have passed without merit.) No, it is the fact that no matter how much you shake the thing, it won’t switch from portrait to landscape view.